[ASKKPOP] Rap Monster admits his fault in plagiarism controversy + promises to take responsibility
On the 2nd, Twitter user@wevebeenheretweeted, "'I'll be your underline because you're important.' I tweeted this in 2014. A Twitter follower told me carefully today. I'm so shocked. Written by Rap Monster. This guy had his 'Boy Radio' thing, too... it's not just once or twice." He further included proof that he had written the tweet at least before November 2014.
The problematic line is Rap Monster's line in his featuring forPrimary's "U", where he wrote, "I'll be your underline because you're important." In the same rap, he's also revealed to have taken "The bed becomes wider when you share it with loneliness"from Twitter user@radiordinary(Boy Radio), who tweeted the same line in October 2014.
With this controversy, other lyrics such as his line in "Hold Me Tight" ("I should've just always lost to you. Why did I always argue?") andJ-Hope's line in "Just One Day" ("I'll confess to you and my spotlight will be the moon") have been pointed out to be lines from books and other songs. However, while these two are just similarly worded, the lines in his rap for "U" are copied word for word, causing controversy and anger from the original tweeters who are known for tweeting thoughtful words.
Rap Monster took the controversy into his own hands andwrote:
Hello, it's BTS' Rap Monster. I'm in Hong Kong for MAMA right now. Today is a really important day for BTS, but this is also very important and I believed I should talk about it myself, so I'm writing this.
Early morning today, I was told by a friend that my lyric source was becoming a controversy on SNS.
First, let me sincerely apologize. Even though I'm just starting, I have felt the difficulties as a creator. I can't write music from just my own internal feelings, so I get inspiration from talking to close friends, books I like, movies, interviews, and things written in fans' letters. I write down words and feelings that speak deeply to me in a memo on my phone. Most of them are erased and forgotten, but looking back after getting called out today, I realized I committed wrong without knowing it. I couldn't even remember my sources, but I acted thoughtlessly because I was thinking just that I had to make music.
Everything is my fault. If the original author sees his specific words, I think it is obvious that he would be angry. I will contact them myself and do my best to take responsibility.
I apologize once again to those who have pointed this problem out and those who were hurt. Even though I'm lacking everywhere, I'm thankful and sorry to the fans who always support me. I'll become a person who thinks of the responsibilities of creation before the difficulties of creation.
I apologize once again to everyone who I have troubled.
Rap Monster also asked both users to follow the BTS account so they could talk via DM. Both @wevebeenhere and @radioriginal retweeted Rap Monster's apology. The former also tweeted a portion of the conversation he had with Rap Monster thatread, "I also apologize for the curses that I put on my Instagram that's going around. It was emotional, but I'm sorry I wrote those just because it was my personal account. Rap Monster. Let's talk after MAMA."
What do you think about what happened?